2d. The opening of the life-records of men, from which they are to be judged.
3d. The Son of man approaches the Ancient of days, attended by multitudes of angels, here represented by the clouds of heaven, to receive dominion, glory, and a kingdom. This does not represent the second appearing of Christ to this world, unless it can be shown that the Ancient of days is here.
3. Seventh-day Adventists believe in the perpetuity of spiritual gifts. They believe that the spirit of prophecy was designed to be with the people of God in all ages, and that dreams and visions are a medium through which God has spoken to his people in past time, and through which he will speak, till faith is lost in sight. “If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” Num. xii, 6.
They find no prophecy in the Old Testament pointing to the opening of the Christian age as the time for spiritual gifts to be removed from the people of God, and no declaration in the New Testament that the church would not need them, and that therefore they were about to cease. No, nothing of this kind appears upon the sacred page. But we hear the prophet of God say, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.” Joel ii, 28-32.
Notice, first, that the prophet points to the last days, as quoted by Peter. Acts ii, 16-20. There can be no days later than the last, a period in which these things will be removed from the church; and, second, that he also points to signs and wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, in the sun and in the moon, to appear in connection with the manifestation of the spirit of prophecy. Third, he mentions the deliverance of those who call on the name of the Lord. This naturally applies to the deliverance of God’s people who will cry to him day and night in the time of trouble. Luke xviii; Dan. xii. They will be delivered, according to the words of the prophet. And may not the “remnant” here mentioned be the same spoken of in Rev. xii, 17? “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
The woman is a symbol of the church, and the remnant of the church represents the Christians of the last generation of men living just prior to the second advent. The dragon makes war on these for keeping the commandments of God, Sabbath and all, and having the testimony of Jesus Christ, which according to the inspired definition of chap. xix, 10, “is the spirit of prophecy.” Here, then, are the causes of the dragon’s warfare upon the remnant. They teach the observance of the ten commandments, and the revival of the gifts, and acknowledge the gift of prophecy among them. When the Devil got one foot upon the fourth commandment, and the other upon the gifts planted in the Christian church by Jesus Christ, then his satanic majesty was filled with revengeful delight. But when the remnant, whom God designs to fit for translation to Heaven without seeing death, “ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,” then the dragon is wroth, and makes war on them.
The true spirit of the dragonic host, which is already being somewhat developed, is vividly described in Isa. xxx, 8-13, as being manifested just prior to the sudden destruction of those who hate the pure testimony, and love smooth and deceitful things.
“Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever [margin, ‘the latter day’]; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.”
Mark this: In “the latter day” men will not hear the law of the Lord, the commandments of God; and they will say to the seers, those who have the spirit of prophecy, See not. They will receive neither. They war against both. See also Mark xvi, 15-20; Matt. xxviii, 18-20; Eph. iv, 4-13; 1 Cor. xii, 1, 28; xiii, 8-12; i, 4-8; Rev. xix, 10; 1 Thess. v; Matt. vii, 15-20; Isa. viii, 19, 20; Jer. xiv, 14; xxiii, 16, 17; viii, 10, 11; v, 30, 31. For a full exposition of the subject of the perpetuity of spiritual gifts, as held by Seventh-day Adventists, see their works upon the subject.
But it is objected that since the volume of inspiration was completed, spiritual gifts have not been needed. Who knows this to be the case? The disciples of Jesus had the law and the prophets, yet needed the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We have both Testaments, and who knows that we do not also need the gifts of the Spirit of God?